Seventh Times a Charm
by Cherry2013
Summary: "The first time it happens, Gibbs is on a plane to Mexico.." A look at how Tony and Ziva's relationship evolves over the years.


The first time it happens, Gibbs was on a plane to Mexico.

What it is, is a kiss where they could swear the world stopped. Passionate moans filled the room and just as she starts unbuttoning his shirt, his phone rings and he remembers, he is the leader now.

And it continues for a few weeks after that. They would start friendly watching a movie, one of them would get to close and they would make out like teenagers, and every time the phone rang, the doorbell signaled their food was here, or even that one time Abby started frantically knocking on the door, scared of their latest case.

And one day Gibbs was back, and one day it stopped, and neither of them really wanted to make it more than it was, and they left it as what it was.

The second time it happens is the night his undercover mission blows up in his face. Alone, drunk, and sad he finds his way to her door, and he sounds so desperate as he says he _needs_ her right now. And they make out until he falls apart in her arms and she is so happy that he's dealing with the pain. And she embraces him to hope she can hold him together.

The third time, was the night jenny had died. She had stopped at a convenience store while he showered, and bought some cheap Bourbon. They drank away the pain in silence, when it was time to sleep, he crawls in the same bed as her.

"I don't want to be alone." He says, and the fierce look in his eyes makes her nod without thinking. He was barely fixed from Jeanne, barely healed, and now he was broken again and she wanted to _fix_ him. To put the pieces back together.

This time she kisses him. Its soft, it's sweet, and it conveys so much that she does not know how to say. Like, 'You will be okay,' and 'it was not your fault.' But mostly she wanted him to know, she was there.

And while a passionate kiss may last the night, these were going to be engraved in their memories for a very long time.

And it ends there that night as he holds her for dear life that whole night, and in the morning they carry on, because this is what they did. They supported each other and went back to normal.

The Fourth time it happens something seems different – because there is something different between them. Before, every kiss, every touch, it was comforting, and held them together.

But Somalia had made everything different. Because he _couldn't live without her._

And now she questions what this means.

They lay in a bed in Paris, and it his her that says she does not want to be alone, not tonight. Because she had spent much too many nights alone, and tonight she's done being strong.

And when he pulls her towards him and places a light kiss on her mouth, she doesn't know what to feel. And in the night she allows herself to be safe, and content with life.

They would discuss what they were doing one day right?

The fifth time it happens Mike Franks is dead.

And not that either one of them was his best friend, not that it was Gibbs, or McGee or Abby, but they felt this pain. Because this was their last straw, it was Gibbs' last straw, and while she cried in his shirt in the elevator, she was losing it.

And that night when he knocks on her door she knows he's done fighting too.

And even though she's with Ray, she allows him to kiss her passionately for a long time before they both huddle together and watch a movie.

The sixth time it happens, it goes too far.

And she knows she lets her emotions fuel what was to come, but she was so tired, so tired of wanting something and not letting herself have it.

Ray had proposed. And she was ready to settle down, and her and Tony never talked about what they were even doing, so she plunges forward, effectively moving on.

Because he asks, _do you really consider me to be a part of your life?_

And she wants to punch him because she didn't let just anyone steal kisses, share beds and hug her like that. What did he think they had been doing for six years?

And so she says yes to Ray.

And her world collapses.

She starts to wonder if she can ever be happy, because lately the universe seemed to be pitted against her.

He knocks on her door that night. And tonight she has the hunger in her eyes as she fiercely pulls him into the apartment before slamming him against a wall and putting everything she had into the kiss.

And tonight there were no phone calls, knocks on the door, or crying to interrupt them. Tonight they weren't showing each other comfort, or support, and this was anything but sweet. And tonight they ended up lying in bed next to each other breathing heavily.

He's gone in the morning and she cries her eyes out under the shower water that goes cold by the time she steps out.

Work is uncomfortable at best, but there's a killer to catch, work to be done, and that's enough to allow them to joke and play with each other without remembering what they did.

The seventh and last time it happens the elevator goes down, and she truly wonders why they were so stupid to not take the stairs.

Sitting in the elevator, they must come to terms with what they were doing.

Both of them were fine, the elevator didn't cave in on them or anything, and they were simply stuck.

She refuses to speak to him, and when he tries to check her to make sure she is okay, she barks at him to get away from her.

It's the first time they've been alone since that night.

Its then that it dawns on him.

"Abby had called me you know. And you know her, she gets herself so hyped up sometimes that something minor becomes the next biggest tragedy." He's talking, starring at his hands in his lap. "Apparently her and McGee were hanging out that night, I was supposed to join them at the bar, but I wanted to check on you first. As you know I didn't leave until the morning. They were talking about Ray, and what a piece of scum he was, and Abby felt so bad for you. McGee had said something chivalrous and they ended up making out before Abby ran like hell. It was 4am when she called in a panic from a cab. I went to make sure she was okay and three hours later she was still hyperventilating." He takes a breath. "I would never leave you like that. I planned on settling her down, getting her to go to sleep, and crawling back into bed. I wanted to talk to you about things so badly that morning, I wanted you to know I didn't take what we did lightly. And then I realized what I had done."

She finds her voice. "And for the next two months you could not come talk to me?" The anger has started to leave her, but this was not over yet.

"I was at a sudden loss for words. It was one things to lie in bed the next morning and for me to tell you how much I loved you, but you were so mad and upset with me, and I knew it, that I couldn't just show up at your door. And every night I would get all the way to your building just to know I blew it, and I would go and drink in Gibbs' basement. It was a dull life."

He cracks a smile, and she wants to forgive him. If Abby had called her hysterical she would have done the same thing.

Neither one of them was good at talking.

They never would be really, it was just who they were.

Her hardened, and a trained killer by her father. Blood would remain on her hands until the end of her life no matter how hard she scrubbed.

Him, commitment phobic because of an endless stream of girlfriends that always left him in the end. He had never left them.

And this time, just like in Los Angeles, she kisses him.

It takes them the better part of the whole summer to come up with what they were. They settled for, "in love" because that's all either of them truly needed.

And she thinks, maybe they wasted too much time. But maybe, they never really wasted time, they just needed time to get it right.

7Th times a charm right?


End file.
